If you cant use tap water then how do they get water?? A sump is used in most sw tanks??
Sumps are very common, because you add volume to the system and can keep the tank appliances like the heater, protien skimmer in the sump. A sump is anything that holds water, old tanks being a logical choice if you have no use for them. Sumps were very popular for
SW and reef tanks because you could easily make it a wet/dry biofilter, getting incredible
NH3 and
NO2 removal as well as oxygenation of the water, and
SW holds less oxygen that
FW? Sumps were so popular that for a while when shopping for a new tank you could tell you were in the
SW section because they were all drilled and had overflow boxes.Of course, efficient
NH3 conversion means lots of nitrates, and that is the enemy of a reef tank. Now comes the live rock method, and lots of people take out the wet/dry biofilter and just use the sump to put more live rock in. I have also heard of canister filters being used for live rock in a
SW setup, but I havent followed
SW for 3 years and can't say for sure.
For water changes and top ups, tap water kind off sucks. The phosphates in it make algae go wild. I never used a
RO unit, I bought distilled water from a local water delivery company. After verifying that they didn't use copper to distill,and testing negative for copper, I never had a problem
Sumps work great for
FW too! you could make your own wet/dry for just a few bucks and a submersible pump. I just wouldn't use one without a drilled tank with overflow boxes built in, because if you lose siphon out to the sump it keeps sending water into the tank till it floods. Overflow boxes are harder to make stop.
Thinking of adding a
SW tank Guppyguy? Its not that hard, just more expensive livestock and the fish bioload must be a lot less for good results (i had a large yellow tang, two clowns, and a starfish in a 55 gallon tank.)if your tap water has too many phosphates, use the distilled or
RO water that local companies can deliver inthe 5
gal bottles for about 6 bucks per 5 gallons. Thus a 10% change in a 50
gal setup costs you 6 bucks plus the cost of the salt to add. I never did a reef or live rock setup, just fish only.